Bali, Day +4

Ok.. Let me put the blame on my wrist watch this time - the alarm did not sound at all! When I woke up, the watch was in the running in the India timezone. I guess the timezone button must have got pressed while I was asleep and switched over from Bali local time to India time. And, we woke up late. For the third consecutive day, her dream - to jog on the beach in the early morning - got shattered. And we missed to go for the water sports. But what the heck! We enjoyed lazing around in the comfy confines of the bed. Missing the breakfast was not a big deal for us who are not used to having breakfast for quite some time (I mean in years).. But the thought of missing out the fun did provoke us out of the bed and hurry downstairs to start living another day in Bali. Grabbing a quick bite at the breakfast table, we went straight to the travel desk and the coordinator was more eager and enthusiastic than us to plan our day. Where in today's world do you get to meet such genuine people? In no time we were all chalked out for the Bird Park and the Bali Zoo for the day and back to square one after a quick stop-over at Kuta.

I have never been to a Bird Park before, but definitely have been to a zoo even though it was long back over my childhood days. At the most I have seen birds kept at home by some of my friends, and also seen them at the pet shops. Two things were very common at such places - one, the beautiful birds themselves, and two, the stink from their feathers and the poo they leave behind, which unfortunately, does not even go after regular up-keep of the place or the enclosure. I would relate all that to the big bird park now, and was sure to get both of them in a much amplified way - the beauty and the stink. All pepped up and ready to step in, we arrived at the bird park, got ourselves entry tickets which included an entry to the adjacent Reptile Park too. Our entry was greeted by a big and beautiful blue-golden Macaws, sitting on a small tree directly in front of us. It seemed to be not bothered by our presence at all even though we were just a few feet away - perhaps got used to people coming in and going out and has stopped giving any attention anymore. Soon there were more of the same spices, scarlet Macaw, a white Cockatoos, sitting on the surrounding flora, busy in their own activities, chirping and fluttering in a free world. A little ahead and you are in a whole new world of birds - some never seen before - some only seen on discovery - some just heard of - and all are there, right in front of your eyes. A few are in open, and the others in a range of enclosures - small ones, medium ones with little vegetation to create the natural environment effect, and large with complete trees and bushes and water bodies inside. Though the walkways are well defined, you can walk up to the enclosures to take a closer look. My camera could not be happier if it wasn't due to these birds; and of course, us too! The park is full of surprises - you find yourself walking along an small lake - coming to life with lots of pelicans, herons, egret, hornbills, and similar species - all in open, right in front of you - that you can stretch and touch them. No sooner had we formed our opinion of the best experience in Bali, we had another surprise in stock - Aviaries - not one, but a couple of them - organized as per the regions to where the birds inside belong to. Africa, Borneo, Papua, Java, Bali and others - spreading over huge spaces, perfectly landscaped with water bodies, trees and small hills with raised walkways above the ground to experience the rain-forest aviaries from above, with the birds flying and whizzing past your heads. No, I am not scaring anyone, it indeed is an exciting experience!

Almost everywhere around the enclosures, even within the aviaries, there are placards with detailed information on the birds - their scientific name, common name, habitat, preferred food, etc. And you have no difficulty in recognizing them throughout the park. In case of doubt or clarification, there is plenty of staff in the bird park whom you are ask all your queries. At places, the staff even promotes holding birds in your hands and getting familiar with it. We did it for the big preying birds - Great Horned Owl and the Brahminy Kite - the owl being almost 60cm in height, perfect yellow iris, as majestic as anyone could be, confident, bold and firm. The kite was more eager, responding to even the slightest sounds in the surroundings, constantly analyzing everything around. A truly amazing experience of a lifetime! Mandarin ducks displaying their beautiful plumage, Yellow Flanked Skinks sun bathing on the pathways, lead us to the restaurant section in the park. It semi-enclosure with three sides open to the park, and gave us the opportunity to have our (late) lunch with Peacocks which come on and off and roam around the tables in the seating area. The park also holds regular shows at fixed timings and we happened to sit through one of such programs - Meet the Bird Star - where a collection of birds are showcased with information on their behavior and specialties. If you get a chance to witness any of the shows in the park, they are definitely a go.

Right adjacent to the bird park is the reptile park - a comparatively smaller area - has one dark and humid alley or rather tunnel to walk through along with a guide from the park. I guess that maintained to provide an environment natural to the reptiles. A lot glass enclosures feature different reptiles found in and around Indonesia - from snakes, to tree frogs, to skinks and lizards. Similar to the bird park, there are placards with every enclosure to read and learn about the reptiles showcased. The tunnels lead you back to the open area housing Iguanas and a variety of Crocodiles in fenced enclosures. Holding the Iguanas in your hands is a cool thing - contrary to our beliefs of the slimy, slippery and yucky reptiles, they have a dry, rough and patchy skin, relatively cold, and are very silent and calm in your hands; perhaps they are used to it. Learning and seeing couple of more enclosures with different species of Crocs and a few pythons, we had finally finished touring the park. The whole trip to the parks is no immensely involving, that we hardly realized using up all the time - even the one we had planned for the zoo. What else? Though a bit sad about it, we had to skip the zoo; but eventually were happy on the fact that at least not even for a single minute in the trip around the park was in any way wasted - it was all worth it.

We are on our way back now.. all the way looking back the snaps we have clicked at the park.. Recalling the birds and the reptiles.. I guess we did not care whether it was Kuta that we were going to or Aston Bali. Arrived in Kuta well in time to catch up with other friends who had been to Ubud for some more shopping, only to learn that they were delayed by 2 hours or so. Planned to go to the local market which, unfortunately had closed early by that day due to local celebration for full-moon nights. Well, shopping never stops, whether one market is closed or not. And we found ourselves in the Discovery Mall, with a good coffee as the first thing on our agenda. The mall is well organized with almost all major brands as well as small shops and stalls retailing local products, mainly dresses and accessories, wooden artifacts, footwear, souvenirs, etc. The back side of the mall opens up on a beautiful west facing sea shore, giving us another chance to witness a beautiful sunset. Sat there for a while, I tried a few clicks and we were back in the Mall. By the time she picked up a new dress, and few accessories, and few footwear, and few living room decorations, and, ok ok, and nothing else, our friends had arrived. Dinner was next on the agenda, and Ifiori Ristorante was a good choice. An Italian restaurant with good food, good cocktails, good service, and I don't remember anything after that as I had Kamakazi running though my veins.

I think by default but involuntarily we have fixed on the our pre-sleep activities - the moon, sea, sand and beer in hand - comes naturally. And today was no different. Spent some time watching the endless sea.. waves shimmering in the moonlight.. with plans to visit a volcano and the mother temple tomorrow, we slipped into the comfy confines of the bed in a perfectly air conditioned room - the same place we woke up from. :)